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Ketil Fred Hansen

Hansen is a professor of social sciences at UiS and a regular reviewer at Ny Tid.
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Muslim elites, exercise of power and terror

AFRICA: What can a book say about Boko Haram or the porous border between today's Cameroon and today's Chad? Or about the pre-colonial kingdom of Kanem-Bornu?
Ketil Fred Hansen -

Politically correct decolonization ideology?

MODERNIZATION: The Nigerian professor Olùfèmi Táíwò looks at power relations between the formerly colonized and colonialists. All states strive to adapt modern institutions to their own history, cultural context and ideological climate. But can the demand to decolonize the language become absurd?
Ketil Fred Hansen -

Which African intellectuals…

Intellectuals: Inspired both by Bakhtin and Foucault, Stephen Chan presents Achille Mbembe's analyzes of the African state in an understandable way. But let's mention what the book leaves out.
Ketil Fred Hansen -

«… Who steals, rapes, plunders, tortures and kills»

FRANCE: The French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour's conclusion after a number of "not a day without" statements is that France is about to be taken over by Muslims and feminists. The whole Zemmour figure is incomprehensible.
Ketil Fred Hansen -

She could be Italy's next prime minister

ITALY: "I'm a woman, I'm a Christian, I'm a mother, I'm Italian, I'm on the right, I'm Giorgia." A book devoid of political analysis?
Ketil Fred Hansen -

French warriors and Norwegian soldiers in the Sahel

THEY HAD: No one in the Norwegian government can have read Nathaniel Powell's new book France's War in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa. Had they done so, they would never have sent Norwegian soldiers to the French military force Takuba in Mali.
Ketil Fred Hansen -

Political propaganda, role mixing and politicians – Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Pinochet, Gaddafi, Erdogan….

DICTATORS: It is your network of contacts that shows who you are and that gives you a job.
Ketil Fred Hansen -

Divorce is as common in Niger as in Norway

COMMUNITY BREACH: It is expensive to get married in Niger even though the bride price varies, and in the event of divorce, women are obliged to pay back the bride price.
Ketil Fred Hansen -

Democracy in French-speaking Africa

SAHEL IN ENGLISH: France has strangely managed to preserve the hegemony over its former colonies, including in the dissemination of knowledge. This book is a much needed exception, which provides the background for understanding the recent coup in Mali.
Ketil Fred Hansen -
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Living through Crisis by Lake Chad. Violence, Labor and Resources
Forfatter: Alessio Iocchi
Forlag: Routledge, (London)
AFRICA / What can a book say about Boko Haram or the porous border between today's Cameroon and today's Chad? Or about the pre-colonial kingdom of Kanem-Bornu?

Full 100-page MODERN TIMES including the appendix Orientering and Modern Times Review comes out quarterly in early March, June, September and December) with international book reviews (non-fiction) and comments / essays. According to the physical newspaper (and PDF), the articles are published regularly online (see the newsletters).

© MODERN TIMES & Orientering AS. PO Box 3113 Elisenberg, 0207 Oslo. Chief editor: Truls Lie

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